Chuck Redux

Summer Creativity Camp--June 24 - 27 at the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity

2013-05-17T13:28:30-07:00

Chuck Redux had just finished a wonderful Quinoa Tabouli salad for lunch prepared by the amazing Kimberley Kausen of Flavorful--Cooking Classes for the Home Cook the other day when the courses for the Center's upcoming Summer Creativity Camp popped up in an email and there, on the very first day of this exciting week-long camp, was "Culinary Creativity" led by Kimberley Kausen of Flavorful! As a bonus, Kimberley was kind enough to share her recipe for the Quinoa Tabouli salad--you'll find it at the end of this post.

Parents get your budding creatives signed up for this wonderful Summer Creativity Camp! The facts are:

Creativity and Culinary Art Camp

@ Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, 3321 Hyland Avenue, Costa Mesa, CA 92626~949-660-7791 x 20107 to make your reservations today!

Monday, June 24 - Thursday, July 27

9:00am-2:00pm

Ages 7-12

$195 for the week

$150 Early Bird Registration

Monday: Culinary

Tuesday: Papier maché

Wednesday: Animation Drawing

Thursday: Painting

Space is limited, please call 949-669-7791 x 20107 or email Sasha@ChuckJonesCenter.org to reserve your child's attendance.

And finally, Kimberley's Quinoa Tabouli!

Quinoa Tabouli

Serves 8

3 cups Chicken Broth

2 teaspoons salt

2 cup Quinoa (rinsed thoroughly)

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

½ cup lemon juice (more to taste, if you like)

1 teaspoon sea salt

3 cups grape tomatoes (more if you like)

4-5 Persian cucumbers sliced ½” thick and then cut in half

4 carrots finely grated (I bought it already grated at Trader Joe’s

3 bunches green onion sliced up to the dark green part

4-5 cloves garlic minced (depends on how much you love garlic)

½ cup Fresh Mint, chopped (more if you like)

½ cup Italian Parsley, chopped (more if you like)

4 tablespoons Fresh Basil, chopped

In a medium size saucepan, put the rinsed quinoa in and lightly toast it, moving it around constantly over medium heat. Once it is toasted, add the chicken broth and tsp. of salt. Bring it to a boil. Cover with a tight lid and reduce heat to low simmering. Cook approximately 15 minutes until the broth is absorbed and the quinoa looks fluffy. Remove from heat and let it sit for 5 minutes covered.

Cool the quinoa completely. You can even refrigerate it for a while once the bulk of the steam is gone.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt, garlic, mint, and basil. Add in the tomatoes, cucumber, carrots and green onion. Mix in the cooled quinoa combining well. Season with Salt and Pepper to taste. Refrigerate at least one hour, or overnight before serving

Kimberley Kausen makes culinary creativity a snap!

Portfolio Workshop for Aspiring Animators

2013-05-16T11:35:42-07:00

Chuck Jones Center for Creativity and Laguna College of Art & Design to Offer Classes This July

Costa Mesa, CA: The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, in collaboration with the Laguna College of Art & Design animation department, is proud to offer its first portfolio development workshop for aspiring animators. This summer, sixteen high school students who are interested in studying the art of animation will have a chance to develop their skills and prepare a portfolio specifically for submission to art schools offering animation programs.

This course will be taught by Larissa Marantz, a character designer for Nickelodeon, children’s book illustrator and professor at Laguna College of Art & Design. Participants will learn the basics of character design, appeal, observational drawing, and personality development inspired by the artistic approach of legendary animation director Chuck Jones, who helped create such classic cartoon characters as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote and Pepé Le Pew.

Ideal candidates will have had some previous art instruction, but have not had an opportunity to take animated-related classes. The cost of the four-week course is $500 and it will be held at the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity at 3321 Hyland Avenue in Costa Mesa on Mondays through Thursdays 9AM-1PM from July 8^th though August 1^st. Interested students may contact Lindsay Farr at Laguna College of Art & Design by e-mail (lfarr@lcad.edu) or phone (949-376-6000) to enroll.

The principles for creating memorable characters embodied in the work of Chuck Jones remain relevant today whether applied to hand-drawn, computer-generated or stop-motion animation. Young artists definitely won’t want to miss this opportunity to follow in the footsteps of an animation master.

About the Center: The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity was founded in 1999 by four-time Academy Award recipient and legendary animation creator and director, Chuck Jones. The Center’s vision is to inspire the innate creative genius within each person that leads to a more joyous, passionate, and harmonious life and world.

These are important goals, particularly in today’s world, when arts education is practically non-existent; we are dedicated to re-invigorating the creative spirit and we are doing it through art classes, exhibitions, lectures, and film festivals, all of which spring from the material in the Chuck Jones archive. Jones was a determined saver and his writings, art, and other ephemera from a nine-decade life, along with his philosophy of guiding and nurturing instruction, form the basis of our programs.

About Laguna College of Art & Design: Founded in 1961 as the Laguna Beach School of Art, LCAD has grown to include five undergraduate majors and a graduate department. We offer a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Drawing and Painting, Illustration, Graphic Design, Animation, and Game Art. The graduate program awards a Master of Fine Arts in Drawing and in Painting.

LCAD is one of an elite number of institutions that has both regional accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (www.wascweb.org) and national accreditation by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (www.nasad.arts-accredit.org). We get especially high marks for our use of technology and the liberal arts in the art and design curriculum. Our graduates are career-ready and receive assistance from the Office of Career Services and its many contacts in the art market and industry. Being an hour from Los Angeles puts you close to museums, galleries, the entertainment industry, and graphic design studios. Our faculty includes experienced professionals in their field; all are accomplished educators.

O, What a Night! Red Dot Re-cap

2013-05-12T08:36:11-07:00

Were you there? Wasn't it awesome? Close to 300 people made the scene last night at the 3rd Annual Red Dot Auction, the spring fundraiser for the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity in Costa Mesa, California (couldn't resist the alliterative 'c's!)

Here's a quick look at the night in pictures...a more detailed account will be posted in the coming days (Chuck Redux needs to rest...)

The Jacobson's take a moment to confab before the crowd arrived. Daughter Brenna helped out by selling raffle tickets throughout the evening and was a contributing artist, mom Rina is a council member and volunteer community ambassador for the Center. Mr. J., well, did as dads and husbands do.

These patrons of the Center bid often and won often!

Tracy Tanner (left), the Council's most-excellent president, says hello to her friend, David.

Rachael O'Connell, a contributing artist, and her husband, David.

The Zives make the scene! Thanks for becoming a member of the Center, Paul!

Andrea Salisbury, who contributed two canvases to the Red Dot Auction, and her husband.

John Yetsko, left, and his wife, Leigh, and son, John, Jr. (far right) with contributing artist Eric Scales.

The Sleeper sisters, Jennifer and Debbie (left and right, respectively), flank Linda Jones Clough, daughter of Chuck Jones and founding trustee of the Center. All three were contributing artists to the Red Dot Auction.

Artist Eric Scales and his contribution, a hilarious and spot-on portrait of Michigan J. Frog!

Tracy Tanner, Nancy Evans, photographer Pasquale Ferazzoli (who donated two beautiful photographs) and the Center's amazing program administrator, Sasha Advani. Thank you, Sasha, for all of your help and assistance--we couldn't have done it without you!

Mike Dicken, national sales director for the Chuck Jones Galleries, gives Chuck Redux the "if you post this photo, you'll be in deep ...." look.

Oh, here's trouble: From left, Michael Young of Collector's Editions (love you, mean it) with contributing artist, Mike Kungl, and Craig Kausen, chairman of the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity try to keep quiet while auctioneer, Eric Ross does his thing.

Ain't we got fun?

Carol Erickson, left, art consultant at the Chuck Jones Gallery in Costa Mesa, with Linda Jones Clough. Bare walls = a successful Red Dot Auction!

MIke Peraza, second from right, artist and art director extraordinaire for Disney Studios and Warner Bros. kindly donated his talents for a live auction item that included a drawing lesson with him as well as several DVDs of films he's worked on and an original Chuck Jones drawing from the archive. Winners included David Cantor, far left, with his father Neil and Heather Broadnax, third from right, and her mother. Craig Kausen holds the Chuck Jones drawing (Craig is Chuck's grandson.)

As the night wound down, winning bidders and artists got together for Chuck Redux's camera. Here we have contributing artist, Joseph Yakovetic with patrons of the arts, John Tanner (center) and son Nick who were the winning bidders of Joseph's portrait of Chuck Jones. Also, Nick helped out last night by selling raffle tickets and taking photos, thank you Nick!

Producer of Nickelodeon's long-running "Dora the Explorer" and other animated series, Jeff DeGrandis, far left, with John, Jr., Leigh, and John Yetsko. They used their Red Dot on Jeff's "Chuck Jones as Ralph Phillips" or is it "Ralph Phillips as Chuck Jones"? Either way, it was a fab contribution to the success of the Red Dot Auction! Thank you, Jeff! And thank you to the Yetsko's!

And finally, the truth is out, Craig Kausen is not only an engineer, but also an artist! (Plus, without his unflagging energy and extraordinary positive attitude, none of this would be possible.)

Thank you everyone for making last night such a resounding success. We appreciate you!

Arrival photos and event photos from the Center's professional photographer, Stephen Russo, will be posted later this week. Look for them!

What's in store for tonight at the Red Dot Auction

2013-05-11T14:20:30-07:00

There will be music.

Jester McCool (right) and Jimmy Mulligan (AKA James C.) will be performing.

There will be drinks.

Tom M. (left), Dana Kungl, Tommy Martinez (TNez), and Mike Kungl

There'll be food too! (no photo of food, though, sorry. :-(

There'll be artists.

Painter Bob Elias (left) with patrons, Sandra and Louis.

Tamara Wood (left) with her daughter.

And of course, there'll be art, lots of art! There are 106 donated works of art...you should drop everything and join us this evening. Tickets available at the door. Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, 3321 Hyland Avenue, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. 949-660-7791 x 22103 or RSVP@ChuckJonesCenter.org.

See you there!

Photos courtesy Stephen Russo

Let me bring you up-to-date...

2013-05-11T08:44:56-07:00

Last night the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity was the setting for a preview of its Spring fundraiser, the Red Dot Auction. It was an intimate evening that allowed the Center's donors and benefactors the opportunity to meet many of the contributing artists to this, the 3rd annual Red Dot Auction.

For the world-weary, a lounge.

The Center sparkled and shone in the early evening's setting sun and the donated artwork, arrayed as it is on the "spokes" of a wheel with a red dot stage as its hub, glittered and enticed.

You know, the great thing about the Red Dot Auction, as Chuck Redux has always maintained, is the love it generates. Each and every artist has given of themselves to help fund creativity and you, when you're standing in the middle of all that generosity, can't help but feel the joy of such gift-giving. Did we mention that bidding begins at only $100.00?

Husband and wife artists Dana (center) and Mike Kungl greet one of the Center's longtime supporters, collector Tom M. as last night's get-together got going. Funny story: Mike called Chuck Redux earlier in the day and said, "You won't mind if I come a little early, would you?" he queried, "I was thinking about the work I donated and realized it would be much much better if I painted a little bit of sparkle in the character's eye. It will only take me a moment." So, arrive early he did with paint and paint brush, we quietly slipped him into our office and seconds later, he was satisfied with the results. Chuck Redux will admit that the addition of the 'sparkle' was just the thing to finish his wonderful donation!

Council president, Tracy Tanner (right) and one of the Council's community ambassadors, Steve Smith, stopped to smile for the camera. The Chuck Jones Council for Creativity is the volunteer arm of the Center.

Artist Ylenia Mino flew in from New York City just to be a part of the festivities! Thank you, Ylenia, for making the trip, and for your generous donation, it means the world to us.

Painter, pirate, and philanthropist, James C. Mulligan (center)shows off a recent painting to Linda Jones Clough, daughter of Chuck Jones, and her son, Craig Kausen, chairman of the Center. Jimmy's inspiration for the painting was a late '40s cover drawing by Chuck Jones for the square dance magazine, "Sets in Order" which depicts a deep-sea diver square dancing with a beautiful mermaid.

Artist Joseph Yakovetic and his lovely wife, Sammy, making the scene at last night's Artist Meet & Greet.

Artist Jeffrey Fliehler, Minerva the goddess, and Mike Wedaa of Opis Network enjoy the hospitality of the evening.

Artist Allyson Vought with her S.O., Lisa, along with Dave L., one of the Council's volunteers and a patron of the Center get close for Chuck Redux.

Artists George Garcia (far left) and Scott Ryder (2nd from right--Scott is also the gallery assistant at the Center and without whose help, Chuck Redux would be in a world of hurt) with the special women in their lives celebrate at last night's informal gathering of artistic temperaments.

Scott Dicken (right, and who is really tall), the VP of retail for the Chuck Jones Galleries, discusses the finer points of building a collection with Sandra and Louis L., art collectors and patrons of the Center. Okay, not true, they were talking baseball, maybe, or they could have been talking about something else entirely for at this point in the evening Chuck Redux's attention span was on the wane.

Artist Luis Salazar (left) along with Dave L., Carol Erickson (2nd from right--and a Chuck Jones Gallery art consultant and collector), and Susan Palcsik (who is known for herding cats in a room full of rocking chairs) say goodnight to Chuck Redux at the end of the evening.

And that's what you missed at the preview party for the 3rd Annual Red Dot Auction. Tickets are still available and at the door for tonight's big gala. Go to the Center's website, ChuckJonesCenter.org for more information. See you tonight!

Live Bidding at the Red Dot Auction!

2013-05-08T14:03:27-07:00

The Center is truly thankful to all of the artists and wonderful people who have worked their creative magic to bring this year's Red Dot Auction together!

To top off this Saturday evening, the Center will present three unique live auction items:

Imagine if you will the sound of splashing fountains, the tinkle of champagne glasses, good friends laughing, standing in the company of a talented visual artist and having conversations about art and creativity. It can be yours when you are the successful bidder on this live auction item. Spend an evening with the painter Mike Kungl and his wife, Dana, at their home and studio in the hills of Orange County. This event, possibly a life-changing one (you may walk away thinking of becoming an artist), is good for you and up to nine of your friends and is supplemented by a $1000 gift certificate from 24 Carrots catering donated by Jon Brown and Norm Bennett, the owners of 24 Carrots.
A Super Colossal Bugs Bunny Drawing Lesson! Learn to draw Bugs Bunny in the THE CHUCK JONES style. Art director of “The Little Mermaid” and many other important Disney Studio films, Mike Peraza will sit down with you one-to-one and teach you to draw Bugs Bunny from his chubby wittle feet to his big pointed ears. At this personalized drawing lesson Mike will share with you drawing techniques he has developed in his over 40 years of Disney and Warner Bros. feature animation, along with his work in television, book, comics, and theme park design—can you say “Cars Land”? Mike will not only teach and guide you on your drawing of Bugs Bunny but will also do an original Bugs Bunny drawing just for you. Your lesson, scheduled at a mutually convenient time, can take place here at the Center or at Mike’s studio in Burbank. This special package also includes several DVDs of Disney feature films that Mike has worked on. And to tie the entire experience right back to the Father of Bugs Bunny, you will also receive an original sketch of Bugs Bunny by none other than Chuck Jones himself!
A tisket, a tasket, a bright yellow basket stuffed with all sorts of goodies--tickets for four to the July 6 performance at the Hollywood Bowl of “Bugs Bunny at the Symphony”, a picnic dinner, along with two bottles of wine, special Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote goblets, a Jones family-owned Levi jacket from the Warner Bros. Studio Stores. Plus you’ll go backstage after the performance with Linda Jones Clough to meet the conductor and creator of “Bugs Bunny at the Symphony” George Daugherty. You’ll be skipping all the way to Hollywood! Also, you'll receive "Bugs Conductor" hand-embellished by Linda Jones. This fine art reproduction on canvas resides in some of the great symphony halls around the globe that have been the venue for performances of "Bugs Bunny at the Symphony."

Do You Red Dot?

2013-05-07T10:09:20-07:00

You'll have to forgive Chuck Redux, but we are obsessed with the art that's been donated for this year's Red Dot Auction. From the four corners of the continent--North American, that is--to the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity the works of art have been flowing in this past couple of weeks. We are close to receiving 100 works -- which was our goal -- to celebrate the centennial year of Chuck Jones.

There are paintings of horses...

...and then there are paintings of horses .

There are abstract works of art -- including photography -- that are as brilliantly conceived as the most complex oil painting.

Yes, it's a photograph.

And there are charming re-imaginings and what-ifs:

In other words, there is something for everyone at the Red Dot Auction! Bidding begins at only $100.00--and all of the proceeds help fund the creativity programs of the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity like Pastelicious and Dynamic Dioramas led by the Center's resident teaching artist, Christopher Scardino, who by-the-way, has contributed a stunning work of art to the Red Dot.

So, do you Red Dot? Would you like more information about bidding long-distance? Contact any of our galleries, or Chuck Redux and we'll gladly help you find the work that means the most to you. Which artist's work will you take home?

Chuck Redux: robert@ChuckJonesCenter.org

Chuck Jones Gallery, Costa Mesa: CostaMesa@ChuckJones.com or 866-Chuck Jones

Chuck Jones Gallery, Santa Fe: SantaFe@ChuckJones.com or 800-290-5999

Chuck Jones Gallery, San Diego: SanDiego@ChuckJones.com or 888-294-9880

Red Dot Surprise!

2013-05-04T10:13:23-07:00

Turns out that Hank Ketchum, the creator of "Dennis the Menace" was a fan and admirer of the work of Chuck Jones. Although Mr. Ketchum has passed away, one of the official artists for his estate--we won't tell you who--has submitted this wonderful mixed media work to the Center's Red Dot Auction, to be held on Saturday, May 11 from 6 to 9 PM at the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity. Buy your tickets here! To view more of the submissions for the Red Dot Auction, click on the image below. To pre-bid, contact your Chuck Jones art consultant.

Chuck Jones Galleries:

San Diego: 888-294-9880 or SanDiego@ChuckJones.com

Costa Mesa: 866-248-2556 or CostaMesa@ChuckJones.com

Santa Fe: 800-290-5999 or SantaFe@ChuckJones.com

The Sensational Ron Burns Paints Bugs Bunny!

2013-05-02T10:34:12-07:00

The Chuck Jones Galleries are pleased to announce that art superstar, Ron Burns, he of the neon-colored dogs and cats, is working on new original work utilizing the characters created and developed by Chuck Jones. His first work, a portrait of Bugs Bunny, is on the easel; you'll be able to follow his progress by clicking here.

Over 20 years ago, artist Ron Burns picked up a paint brush for the first time and started painting as a release from the corporate world where he was running his Los Angeles based marketing and design studio. It was only a couple of years later, in his quest to find what truly inspired him, that he looked down into the eyes of his newly rescued puppy Rufus that began his fine art career of painting bright, colorful, loving dogs.

It wasn't until he sold a few paintings of the family four-legged-kids, that his wife, Buff, said she could no longer part with the paintings and so, once more, Ron found himself looking for inspiration. He found it next, when taking a trip to the local animal shelter while on vacation in Aspen. After painting several of the dogs and selling the paintings, he donated a percentage back to the shelter beginning what Ron calls, Art is Going to the Dogs.

He might have remained content painting only shelter dogs, but on September 11, 2001 after taking his morning run, he turned on the TV to see the world change forever. As he watched the events unfold he saw the story of Sirius, the explosive-detection dog that lost his life in Tower II. He reached out to David Lim his handler which lead to the painting of Sirius and then on to meeting pet therapy dogs and search and rescue dogs involved in the tragedy.

Since then Ron has painted numerous dogs that have survived insurmountable odds, dogs that devote their lives through their service to humans as well as continuing to portray the beauty of rescued dogs and the much loved family member.

His work has been seen throughout the media world from CNN to Time magazine, collected around the world and honored by various awards. It is now fair to say that he has accomplished what few artists have; and that is an art movement. Today artists around the world see his art and are inspired to paint like Burns. Who could ever have imagined, that looking down into his best friend furever's eyes could have changed his life so drastically as well as the art world.

Don't forget to follow Ron's progress as he paints everyone's favorite cartoon rabbit, Bugs Bunny!

Meet Your Mind--A User's Guide to the Science of Consciousness

2013-04-29T11:46:21-07:00

Chuck Redux stumbled upon To the Best of Our Knowledge website the other day and we were really taken by this series on the User's Guide to the Science of Consciousness, particularly the part on the neuroscience of creativity. There are six components that range from "Memory and Forgetting" to "Extraordinary Minds", each one is available as an audio interview accompanied by its transcription. Really amazing stuff, here's the intro to the series:

Your thoughts and feelings, your joy and sorrow....it’s all part of your identity, of your consciousness. But what exactly is consciousness? It may be the biggest mystery left in science. And for a radio show that loves 'Big Ideas,' we had to take up the question.

In our six-hour series, you’ll hear interviews with the world’s leading experts - neuroscientists, cognitive psychologists, philosophers, writers and artists. We’ll take you inside the brains of Buddhist monks, and across the ocean to visit France’s ancient cave paintings. We’ll tell you how to build a memory palace, and you’ll meet one of the first scientists to study the effects of LSD.

How do our brains work? Are animals conscious? What about computers? Will we ever crack the mystery of how the physical “stuff” of our brains produces mental experiences?

What does science tell us about the most personal question of all:

Who am I?

Take some time and investigate. It's well worth your time.